Aftermath
by D.B.R Hazlewoode
Summary: With the murder of Captain Roy Montgomery and the vicious attack on Kate Beckett still fresh in everyone's mind, the mayor orders the detectives of the 12th to undergo a psychological assessment by Doctor George Huang.
1. Esposito

_**A/N: After watching Law and Order: SVU for three days straight, and then watching a Castle rerun, my mind mashed up this idea while I was trying to sleep yesterday. I know I'm not done with **_**Nothing Left To Lose **_**yet, but I promise I'll get back on it. This takes place post 3x24. Beckett, Lanie, Ryan, Esposito, and Castle (for some unexplained reason) are evaluated by SVU's own Doctor George Huang to determine if they are stable enough to return to work. There will be ten updates total: five interviews, and five reports from the doctor himself. Sorry, these will probably be short! R&R and stay awesome! Yours 'till the wheels fall off!**_

* * *

><p>Doctor George Huang stood and extended a hand to Detective Javier Esposito. Javier eyed it, and then reclined against the wall of the interrogation room. The doctor, unruffled, sat down and asked the detective to please do the same. He refused. Huang glanced down at the open file before him, then back at Esposito.<p>

"How would you describe your relationship with Roy Montgomery?" he asked, folding his hands and waiting for an answer, one that he suspected would never come.

"Don't-" Javier started, voice raised. He took a step back and then took a deep breath, eyes closed. He tried again.

"Don't talk about him." George scratched a line on his notepad and then studied the man across from him.

"Do you feel that this is a waste of your time? That you don't need to be here?" Esposito pushed off from the wall and paced slowly around the room.

"Yeah," he admitted, crossing his arms, "It's not like I'm gonna go psycho and shoot somebody." Huang turned in his seat and faced him.

"That's not what we're worried about. If you could please-" And just like that, he went from being semi-calm to near insane.

"Look, I don't want to be here! I don't need to be here! We should be out on the street, finding the bastard that shot Beckett! We're doing shit here talking about my feelings! How I feel isn't gonna fix this! Nothing will!" Javier threw a chair against the wall. Huang wrote some more, and then put his pen down.

"Your rage is misguided-"

"My rage is justified!"

"Who are you really angry at?" Esposito sat, deflated. George waited patiently.

"Whoever shot Kate."

"And?" he prodded gently. The detective was less than forthcoming with verbal information, but his facial expressions and gestures were speaking volumes.

"Myself." That was what he was looking for. He made note and then looked back up at him.

"Why is that?" Javier had been drumming his fingers on the table, and now he sped up, until he slammed his hands down on the table. Then he stopped. Breathed. Paused again.

"Because I could have stopped it," he whispered. The doctor didn't write this time, just watched him.

"Do you really believe that, detective?" For a moment, Esposito looked as if he wanted to leap across the table. Huang braced himself. Javier got back up, but didn't reply. Nearly five minutes went by before he spoke again. It was inaudible.

"Could you repeat yourself, please?"

"No!" His short bursts of rage told him all that he needed to know. Almost.

"But you still feel like there was something that you could have done to prevent the events of the last few days. If only you had figured something out faster, if only you had seen it coming, if only you had suggested something. If only." When the detective turned around again, his eyes were wet with tears that he had not yet shed.

"Why do you know that?" He ignored the question.

"There was nothing you could have done, Detective. Your guilt is useless."


	2. Ryan

_**A/N: I know this only shows up in the Crossover section, so I'm not getting as many reviews as usual. But thanks to everyone who is reading! This interview is between Huang and Kevin Ryan. Read and R&R..and stay awesome! Yours 'till the wheels fall off ;)**_

* * *

><p>Detective Kevin Ryan had passed Esposito in the hall on his way into the interrogation room. He'd reached out, and then retracted his hand before he made contact; the last time he'd touched his partner without warrant, he'd had his warning beaten into him.<p>

"Javier-" Esposito turned around. Ryan took a half step back, startled by the look on his face.

"Are you?" But then he turned and walked away, leaving Kevin alone in the hallway. Doctor George Huang held the door open and called to him.

"Detective Ryan, please come in." Kevin only hesitated a moment longer before he went inside.

* * *

><p>Unlike Javier, Ryan sat when he was asked to. He folded his hands, and then unfolded them. Then he toyed with the pin on his lapel. He noticed that he was tapping his feet, and he tried to stop himself. The doctor watched all of this while scribbling a few things on his notepad.<p>

"No need to be nervous, detective," he assured the young man. Kevin stopped his antics long enough to meet his eyes. He swallowed.

"Do you mind if we get started?" Ryan gestured wildly with his hand. George took this as a cue and began.

"Are you usually this nervous?"

"Not usually," he said, bowing his head. He blew out a breath sighed.

"What did you do after you received the news of your late captain's death?" The detective's hesitation was palpable. Huang folded his hands while Kevin considered.

"Javi an-My partner and I," he corrected himself at the last moment, "We uh...we had a few drinks.." He wrote. And then:

"The two of you got drunk. Is this how you two deal with things?"

"No!" He'd seemed to have struck a nerve. George had been about to pursue it when the

detective spoke first.

"Look, whatever Javier said, don't take him too seriously, alright? He's...he's got a tempter, and it causes trouble sometimes." Huang gestured to Kevin's face.

"Is that how you received that bruise?" The detective touched his face briefly, and then smiled for a moment down at the table.

"No, I was-"

"The truth please, detective." He sighed.

"I was asking for that one." This statement cause him to write a bit longer. He could feel Kevin's uneasiness build up until it reached a fever pitch. He stood suddenly, nearly knocking his chair over. Calmly, he looked up.

"Problem?"

"No," Ryan seemed to gasp. He took up a slow pace around the room, unaware that his partner had done nearly the exact same thing earlier. The way the two seemed to function was dangerous.

"Just a few more questions, and then you may go. Between yourself and Detective Esposito, have either of you ever allowed your emotions to cloud your judgement during a case?" He, of course, knew the answer before Ryan spoke it.

"No." He raised his eyebrows, however.

"Not at all?"

"No," he repeated, stopping his slow walk around the room.

"When Detective Beckett was shot, what did you do in the hours following the incident?" Ryan sat back down and stared off into the distance.

"Javier and I, we hung around the hospital for a couple hours, until we got kicked out. He and-He left, and I went home with my fiancee." He'd slipped up, and the doctor caught it.

"He and who?"

"No one..his girlfriend..Look, is that what's really important here?" His voice rose just a little. Just enough. He took more notes.

"Have you felt any paranoia since these two events? Any trouble sleeping, eating, anything like that?" He could see that already, the detective looked slightly gaunt.

"I'm not really hungry anymore..or tired.." He carefully stepped around the paranoia question. He had carefully avoided many of his questions.

"I'll let you in on a little secret, detective. It'll do you good to answer my questions directly."


	3. Lanie

_**A/N: Hola everybody! This update is Lanie's interview. Gotta love that woman3. Don't have a lot to say today, so all I ask is that you R&R (the usual) and stay epic! (And I apologize in advance, seems I have a little writer's block. So I'm not going to lie..this is probably going to be crappy. Yours 'till the wheels fall off ;)**_

* * *

><p>Lanie Parish was the first interview on the second day. And she was terribly late. She'd been in a rush to visit Kate, who was now resting (somewhat) comfortably at her apartment, with Castle, Josh, her father, and a huge amount of tension to keep her company. She slid into the chair across from the doctor and let her purse fall to the floor beside her.<p>

"I'm late," she said, by way of introduction. The doctor looked up from his notes and offered a brief smile.

"Quite alright. Can we begin?" Lanie nodded, and George glanced down at the fire before him.

"Miss Parish, would you say that Detective Beckett and yourself are good friends?" he asked. Lanie tucked a wayward piece of hair behind her ear and looked down at the table. It was filthy. She thought it terrible that her tables were much cleaner, and they were the ones that had seen countless autopsies. The most action these had ever gotten was probably some blood and spilled coffee.

"Miss Parish?" Huang prodded gently. Startled, she looked back up at the doctor.

"Sorry, my mind's gone," she gestured out the door, "Yes, Kate and I are good friends."

"Close?" She nodded slowly.

"I guess so." He looked down again, and then back at the medical examiner.

"And you were the first one to see Kate in her...condition." Her breath caught in her chest for a moment, and she paused before she spoke.

"Y-yes," she replied hesitantly. The moments after Kate's shooting ran through her mind like a bad horror film. She recalled every moment of it, up until Kate went into surgery. A sudden anger rose inside of her. There she was, Lanie Parish, medical examiner, about to burst into tears about a memory. Kate had survived an attack on her life, and the woman had never even shed a tear. How could she be so selfish?

* * *

><p>George studied the rang of emotions that passed on the medical examiner's face. They came in went in such quick succession that if he hadn't been as well trained as he was, he would have missed some of them. Anger, guilt, disgust, remorse, horror...If he'd wanted to, he could tell her exactly what she was thinking. He knew.<p>

"Miss Parish? Can we please continue?" For the second time in ten minutes, she snapped back to reality, the dazed look of one just pulled from a deep reverie still in her eyes. She shook her head. Huang wrote his notes quickly.

"You seem upset," he commented, tapping his pen on the table silently. The woman sitting across from him simply nodded. He studied her. For one who was said to be a firecracker, her current behavior seemed to be a long way away from that now. It wasn't as if she was putting up a front, like the first detective he had spoken to. No, he had a feeling that this _was_ her, but at the same time it wasn't. She seemed to have two sides: a loud, outspoken one, and a quieter, more pensive one; the one that he was seeing now.

"Do you think that this is your fault?" She opened her mouth, shut it, and opened it again. Then she laughed.

"You know what, I don't know what to think anymore. Everything is moving too fast. My captain's gone, Kate's been..." She couldn't say the words. George saw that she still hadn't excepted it yet. Without warning, she broke down. All that he could do was offer a tissue and wait until she had calmed herself. Then he began.

"You feel like you're a horrible person for crying. You think that it makes you seem weak compared to what the others have endured. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the way you're feeling right now. I know that you won't believe me at first, but as time goes on, you'll begin to see."


End file.
